When Janet Preece moved to Gozo three years ago, the 71-year-old chose the quiet village of Għarb to live out the rest of her days in peace.

But her retirement dreams have turned into a construction nightmare after works to build a block of apartments began next door – including on a boundary wall on her property.              

Preece says she has been forced to sleep on a deckchair in the kitchen of her home because the yard leading onto the bedrooms is coated with a layer of limestone dust from the adjacent construction site.

“There is a blanket of limestone all over my things. I’ve been living like this for a year and a half. I should be having a nice life enjoying myself out in my yard – which is why I bought this ground floor apartment. But now all my plants are dead and the dust is relentless making its way inside the house and I constantly have to clean,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse as she is mostly home-bound to avoid contracting the virus. “This is a lockdown nightmare,” says Preece, who has a disability since she has a fractured spine.

She turned to the media out of desperation after sending her pleas for help to various authorities, including the Building and Construction Agency and her local council.

Preece, who moved to Malta from the UK 18 years ago, found her retirement home in Triq Franġisk Portelli, Għarb, three years ago. But everything started changing in May last year when a permit was granted for construction works to start in the field located on the back side of her yard.

The number of permits for new dwellings has mushroomed on Malta’s sister island with Times of Malta revealing that approvals have increased sixfold in six years.

Preece is claiming she was denied the right to object since the notice of construction was located in the middle of a field behind her home and was not visible to residents. She is also claiming that the contractor illegally built on top of the dividing wall that is her property – something she has contested in court. She filed an application calling on the court to declare the raised wall illegal since it was on her property. The case is still pending but meanwhile, the construction of the entire block continued and is now complete.

I cannot even sell my home. Who would want to live like this?

“I only have my state pension to pay for all of this and you and I know full well that even if the court agrees and the wall is taken down, they will simply build another wall, attached to mine,” she says.

Although she is contesting legal aspects of the building, Preece is particularly angered at the limestone dust that rained onto her property without precaution.

“My garden is covered in a thick layer of limestone dust, which has set solid, even after the heavy rains. I cannot sit out there, use the BBQ, entertain guests or hang washing out. All my treasured plants, even the lemon tree, are dead. It’s soul destroying. And I have no privacy,” she says, referring to the apartment block overlooking her yard.

“No-one, especially at my age, should have to live like this after spending all their savings and pension to purchase a three-bedroom, two bathroom apartment, with large BBQ terrace and garage, in a supposed peaceful village. I cannot even sell my home. Who would want to live like this?”

Għarb mayor David Apap said the issue was a private matter and the council could not intervene but had guided Preece on who could help her.

The Building and Construction Agency said it could not comment about the ongoing civil case into the dividing wall since it was pending and the agency was not involved.

As for the construction dust, the agency said: “BCA has confirmed with the project architect that there are no ongoing works at the moment; construction was finalised over six months ago.

“We have been informed that the architect of the project contacted Preece to rectify the situation in May.”

Preece confirmed that the architect had contacted her to carry out an inspection. She told him she should first seek legal advice to ensure they did not remove undocumented evidence into her complaints that had been dragging on since the previous May.

Meanwhile, she had to undergo surgery to repair a blocked vein in her leg. She said she never heard from them again.